


Pushing self til point of collapse- Keith (Voltron)

by AnaliseGrey



Series: Analisegrey's Birthday Whump Bingo Challenge 2018 [19]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Analisegrey's Birthday Whump Bingo Challenge 2018, Gen, Keith is So Tired, Shiro (Voltron) is Missing, The others are around - Freeform, poor kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 18:54:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14700186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnaliseGrey/pseuds/AnaliseGrey
Summary: for square #19 of the birthday whump bingo challenge!blue-s-heart on tumblr asked: "Pushing themself to the brink of collaps w/ Keith bc lets be honest that boy would do that and much worse (bonus points for platonic shklance <3)"Don't think I managed the shklance, but hopefully you like it anyway :)





	Pushing self til point of collapse- Keith (Voltron)

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place somewhere near the beginning of season 3, while Shiro is still missing.

Things had been rough since Shiro disappeared.

Keith was trying desperately to keep it together, but it seemed like whenever he thought he was catching up or getting on top of things, there was always something else; another report (or twelve) to read, another meeting with Allura and Coran about strategy, another video call with the Blades and Kolivan to organize. If it wasn’t any of those it was a battle, or training with the team. It felt like he was barely holding on by his fingertips, and he had no idea how Shiro had managed all of it so calmly.

His normal go-to for stress release was to train, which left him even more exhausted, but it worked if he was afforded the chance to sleep. More often than not, though, he was woken before his alarm, either from an alert on his pad, a Castle proximity alarm, or just his own dreams. It was rare he got more than two or three undisturbed hours of sleep a day cycle, and it was starting to wear on him. He knew it must be obvious to the others, because he could easily see it in the mirror and he knew he wasn’t always the most observant one in the group when it came to personal details.

Lance had found him one afternoon, taken him aside and asked, full of sincerity, if he was ok, if there was anything the rest of them could do to help; but what could he say to that? That he couldn’t hack it as well as Shiro had thought he could? That he wasn’t up to the job? That in his heart-of-hearts he didn’t think he had any business leading Voltron? He might feel all of that was true, but he also knew he sure as hell couldn’t  _ say  _ it, especially not to one of the other paladins. So he’d put on a brave face, or what passed for one, and assured Lance as much as he could that everything was fine, that  _ he  _ was fine, and if he needed help he’d of course ask for it. Lance had given him a long hard look then nodded, clapped Keith on the shoulder and wandered off again.

That had been 2 weeks ago.

Keith was pretty sure he was running on sheer stubbornness at this point, because he thought even his fumes had run out. He missed Shiro, so badly, for any number of reasons- Shiro was his best friend, and the person he’d known the longest. Shiro was a confidant, a teacher, a mentor, and more than a little bit his hero. He was his brother in every way but blood, but if Shiro were to walk in the door in the next five minutes, Keith would deck him right across the jaw for sticking him with this. Keith was tired,  _ so  _ tired, and there was no end in sight. He also knew he couldn't stop; if he stopped the whole ill-constructed house of cards would tumble, and the universe was depending on them, on  _ him _ , to keep going and save the day. So he sucked it up and kept going; it’s what Shiro would have done.

They were in a training session, working on a level 12 gladiator. It was at the edge of what they could do, manageable, but still a challenge. It was the last round for the day, and Keith was trying to tell himself that all they had to do was finish this, and then he could go crawl somewhere quiet for awhile and try to rest. They just had to defeat the gladiator first.

Easy.

He was breathing hard, waiting, trying to blink sweat out of his eyes. He just had to wait another tick and Pidge would come in from the side with her bayard and trip the gladiator so he could take it out; he could already see her moving from the corner of his eye, the glowing green of her bayard whipping out to catch around it’s legs, taking it down. He was about to dive forward after it when a blaster shot whizzed by his head and took out the gladiator. For a moment he was stunned, then he quickly got over it, whirling in a temper on Lance.

“What the  _ fuck _ , Lance?!”

Lance looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Uh...I took the gladiator down? Like I said I was going to over comms?”

Keith blinked, trying to reign in his temper.  _ Had  _ Lance said anything? Now that Keith thought about it, he’d been so focused on just getting through the end of the round, he couldn’t remember what anyone had said in the last few minutes, just the vague hum of voices over the comm systems to remind him anyone else was even there.

“Keith?”

Keith blinked again, and looked up to see the other paladins gathered around, looking at him with varying levels of concern.

Lance stepped forward, carefully putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder, making sure to telegraph the movement. “Are you ok?”

For the tiniest, briefest second, he almost said yes. He was the leader, he was supposed to be the strong front, the unshakable foundation. Then he looked at the others- really  _ looked-  _ and they looked just as run down as he felt. Yeah, he was the strong front and unshakable foundation, but he was also the example they followed and looked up to in Shiro’s absence. He thought about how he’d felt every time Shiro had ever smiled tiredly at him and flat out  _ lied _ , saying he was fine when Keith knew he wasn’t. Had that ever helped him be better?

Keith took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm his jangled nerves, and stuffed down his first reaction, reaching for the better one. “Sorry, Lance, I got distracted.”

Lance’s eyebrows shot up. “ _ What _ ?”

“I got distracted. I-  _ we-  _ are all tired. We put in good effort in training today, and I think it’s best if we take the afternoon off to try to unwind, get some rest and downtime. We don’t know when we’ll be able to next. That alright, Allura?”

Allura’s eyes widened in surprise. “Um. Yes, I don’t believe we have anything else for today. You’re all dismissed.”

Keith nodded in acknowledgement and turned to go but Lance reached out and caught his arm again. Keith stopped, looking back. “Yeah?”

Lance hesitated, looking unsure for a moment, then found his resolve. “You know you can talk to us, right? If you need. For reasons.”

Keith’s lips quirked up in amusement. “For reasons?”

Lance looked a bit sheepish, but stuck with it, nodding. “Yeah. Reasons. We know it’s been hard for you, and if you ever need to talk…”

Keith’s smile grew wider and warmer. “Yeah, I know. Thanks.”

Lance’s return smile was incandescent. “Right! Well, you go get some sleep or a snack, or maybe a snack then some sleep, because you look like a zombie. Though maybe we could use that as a battle tactic. Think the Galra know what a zombie is?”

As Keith headed off to grab some food before he crashed, he could still hear Lance excitedly talking about his new ‘Romero offensive’ to Hunk and Pidge, and trying to explain the finer points of zombies to Allura.

Things were rough; but with his team around him, Keith thought he’d make it.


End file.
